Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Supreme Court Rules on School Desegregation
This thoughtful unit explores the history of school desegregation legislation, including a discussion of the impact of the Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education decisions. A six-week plan of lessons, along with other sample...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Hyde County School Boycott
Narrative tells the story of a yearlong boycott to protest the closing of historically black schools in Hyde County, North Carolina.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: Challenging Segregation in Public Education
A senior high lesson plan on segregation in schools.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source: Beyond Busing: School Desegregation in Boston
This collection uses primary sources to explore school desegregation in Boston.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Beyond Brown: Recognize & Combat Segregation in u.s. Schools
A lesson plan on the continuing problem of school segregation that asks students to identify instances of school segregation today, to determine the reasons behind it, and to develop a plan for combating segregation in today's schools....
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Documenting Brown: Gong Lum v Rice
The Supreme Court's 1927 opinion in Gong Lum v. Rice affirmed legalized school segregation.
Other
Watson.org: African American History: School Integration
A history of the attempt to integrate schools in Little Rock, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Boston.
Other
Hsi: First Days of School Desegregation
An interactive site for students to learn about school desegregation. Photographs, oral histories and questions help guide the students to their conclusions.
My Hero Project
My Hero: Ruby Bridges
Chosen as a Freedom Hero, Ruby Bridges faced the incredible task of integrating an elementary school during the Civil Rights Movement.
University of Michigan
University of Michigan Library: Digital Archive: Brown v. Board of Education
A digital collection of materials outlining the famous Brown v. Board of Education case and the events that followed it. Covers Supreme Court cases and school desegregation issues and events.
Digital History
Digital History: Segregation in the North; Case Study: Boston 7 [Pdf]
Read about the law suit against Boston Public Schools claiming that the schools were segregated in fact, although not by law. See the results of busing and read the addendum about the status of integration in Boston at this time. The...
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Eyes on the Prize: School Desegregation, 1957 1962
As part of a much larger site from PBS' American Experience's series, Eyes on the Prize, look through this multifaceted site that traces the resistance to implementing school desegregation ordered by the Supreme Court and shows the...
Other
Tcnj: Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Digital Archive
An extensive archive of documents, articles, images, and activities related to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case from 1954. The site was last updated in 2004 and the video links do not seem to be working now. The...
Digital History
Digital History: The Supreme Court Orders Desegregation [Pdf]
This site is from a unit called 'African-Americans in the Land of Equality.' It looks at the 1954 decision by the Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education case that ended school segregation.
Library of Virginia
Virginia Memory: Virginians Respond
In this lesson, students use primary sources to explore how Virginians responded to the Brown v. Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court in 1954 that called for an end to school segregation. They look in particular at Virginia's...
Digital History
Digital History: Simple Justice
Follow the civil rights quest for integrated schools from the beginning in 1849 through the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education and the struggle that ensued for decades following in the most reluctant...
Read Works
Read Works: School Colors
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about desegregation and the experiences of the Little Rock Nine. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Other
Holton School District: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Very detailed background and author information, along with questions for each chapter of this novel about life in the segregated society of Mississippi.
PBS
Pbs: African American World History
Featuring an excerpt from a memoir written by Ruby Bridges telling of her experience as the first African American child to attend an all white elementary school in New Orleans in the year 1960.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Ruby Bridges
A biographical look at Ruby Bridges who became famous at six years of age by being the first Black child to attend a desegregated school in America.
Other
Learning for Justice: Brown v. Board: An American Legacy
An article celebrating the 50th anniversary of the famous Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision. Features background information, a timeline of integration of schools, interviews, and links to many other activities and resources covering...
OpenStax
Open Stax: 1945 1960: African American Struggle for Civil Rights
Examines how Presidents Truman and Eisenhower dealt with the civil rights movement, the steps taken by African Americans to combat discrimination and segregation, and the reaction of white people in the South to the civil rights...
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: Civil Rights: An Investigation
Through the instructional activity provided here, learners will not only learn about civil rights and civil liberty but also understand the key roles played by President Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights...
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University: Separate but Not Equal
Telling pictures of elementary schools for Blacks and Whites during the 50s and 60s. Discusses the situation in Prince Edward County that led to the Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County court case.